On April 9, 2018, George Mason University Korea (GMUK) held a town hall meeting with President Lee in order to discuss issues that both the students and faculty had. One of the first things President Lee announced was that GMUK was the first IGC (Incheon Global Campus) university to pay off government loans and was now registered as an official Korean university in the Chinese ministry. With the gateway to China, the university hopes to bring in more foreign students. Attendants were also informed on the current status of GMUK’s graduate program, Computer Game Design, and stated the forms had been submitted for approval by the Fairfax campus. Another announcement was that five summer courses will open for students to enroll in.
President Lee then presented a PowerPoint on the statistics of spending and informed the students that the plan for next semester was to apply a new scholarship for students heading to Fairfax called ‘Transition to Fairfax.’ Applications for the scholarship is open during Spring 2018, and emails were sent to students interested in applying. In the presentation, total revenues (-scholarships, +subsidy) transitioned from $6,442,056 to $7,373,863 and the offered scholarships had a growth rate of 131%. It also informed that since 2015, over 120 internships have been offered with 55 being on-campus.
Once all information was provided, students and faculty were given the opportunity to ask questions to the President. One of the first students who asked was Sunghun Jang (Junior, Economics). The first question was about how the university brands itself both inside and outside of the campus. He mentioned that to brand the university well, having “good alumni” is just as important as advertising. He also brought up the issue of the retention ratio in GMUK. President Lee responded by stating the retention rate was 75 to 80 percent due to a number of reasons. He stated a survey on reasons of leaving the university showed finance was the biggest cause. In addition, other reasons included lack of course offerings and compulsory military service. Knowing this, he stated the university was trying to increase the budget of scholarships to potentially solve this issue.
Another topic was environment on campus. Andrea Kwon (Freshman, Conflict Analysis and Resolution) introduced that many students lack the understanding of what it means to be a ‘Patriot’ and whether the school is working on creating a uniform school identity. She asked about the university’s objective on this issue and about enforcing an ‘English-only Policy.’The school responded that they are going to implement ‘English zones’ throughout the building, as it is a common practice within many schools as a way to prevent discrimination. In addition, they announced to promote programs, such as the Chingu Program, to bring more Fairfax students to the Korean campus.
Overall, the town hall meeting was seen as a positive interaction between the university and students. Both parties were able to express their opinion on topics they deemed as important to the development of the university and hopes to have more of these meetings in the future.
Kristy Tsai | Reporter
ktsai2@masonlive.gmu.edu
Comments